Ben - His other brother
“Yeah, I dunno, I was trying to get the shading right, but it’s…” Hunter’s voice trailed off. “I dunno.”
Abby, the dress girl, patted his arm.
I caught the way Hunter tensed, but he didn’t snap back at her. Good man . Instead, he dipped his head and his face flushed a little.
Damn, these two liked each other, it was obvious, but they were so awkward about it that it was near painful to watch… I felt for the dude.
“It’s really nice.” Abby smiled warmly at him. “Maybe if you added a little orange?”
“Orange?” He laughed. “That might make it look–”
The bell rang, cutting him off.
Abby gave him a small apologetic smile before bouncing back to her work station. His eyes trailed her the whole way.
“Make sure you bring your work home for the weekend, please!” Maggie called out the reminder. “This first project needs to be completed by the end of class on Monday. Be mindful of your pacing!”
The room went a little crazy for clean up time, with kids rushing to dump paints and wash out their paint brushes. Maggie went around the room offering to write late passes.
Everyone walked out of the room with their project in a large cardboard carrier… Everyone except Hunter. His project lay on the drying rack in the back of the room.
“Hunter, can you come back here, please,” Maggie said in a stern teacher voice that had me lifting my head. Over the past couple weeks, she rarely ever had to discipline a kid, so I rarely heard that tone from her. She took more of the I’m not mad, I’m disappointed approach to discipline, and it really worked wonders with her classes– because her kids liked her. Who could not like her?
“What’s up?” Hunter asked, keeping his eyes on the floor. His cheeks were his tell– they flushed as he stood in front of her.
“You can’t work on your project if you don’t take it home,” Maggie said in a more gentle tone. “I’m just afraid you won’t be able to keep up with the coursework of AP and you won’t be ready for the spring showing if you aren’t also working at home. AP is a lot more demanding than the regular drawing and painting courses. It’s supposed to make you college-ready.”
He snorted.
Maggie’s forehead creased. “Is there something funny about that?”
Hunter peered at the clock behind her. “Yeah, me and college.”
“Well, that’s something we can discuss with–”
“Look, I can’t work on it at home anyway, so save your breath,” Hunter cut her off.
She waited patiently for more information, for him to fill the awkward silence between them, but the kid wasn’t budging. “You can’t? Or you won’t?” she finally asked.
“Does it matter, lady?” he snapped, pulling at his hair.
That had me clearing my throat to get his attention. I gave him a firm negative head shake. He needed to work on controlling his temper.
His eyes briefly darted to me. He took a deep breath, then his shoulders dropped when he faced Maggie again. I hated how helpless he looked. “Sorry. I just… I can’t, okay?” He ducked his head and bolted out of the classroom before Maggie could argue with him.
Maggie clasped her hands together on top of her head before looking at me in exasperation. “I did not expect to have problems with any of the AP kids.” She shook her head. “What was that about?”
I rubbed my jaw in thought. That kid was in over his head with some kind of trouble, I just didn’t know what kind yet.
A minute later, a knock on the classroom door made Maggie jump.
Johnny poked his head in the classroom. “You guys got a minute?” Gone were the usual traces of humor on his face, and his movements seemed a little skittish.
“Sure,” Maggie said, gesturing him in.
“Hey man,” Johnny said, reaching toward me for a knuckle punch. I couldn’t help but smirk as I returned the greeting because he really did remind me of Coleson back in high school.
He licked his lips and his eyes nervously darted back to the hallway. “I just saw Hunt blazing out of here like he was on the run.”
Maggie nodded.
Johnny ran a hand over his hair. It was kind of funny to see kids towering over Maggie, but still scared to talk to her– just showed how young they actually were. “I shouldn’t be here, but…” He paused and chewed on his lip for a second. “Look, I don’t know what he did, but just… Don’t be mad at him, okay?” Johnny winced when he saw Hunter’s project laying on the table. “This is about not taking his projects home, right?”
“Good guess,” Maggie said, not giving any information away.
“Same thing happened last year and the old art teacher almost failed him even though he’s the best artist this school has ever seen, no offense,” he threw to Maggie.
Maggie just stared at him in confusion.
“Hunt is a hard worker. He does care. A lot. It’s just because…”
Maggie’s face pinched. “Because?”
Johnny looked out to the hallway again. “God, he’d hate me for saying this because he hates anyone knowing his business, but the dude won’t even do it to help himself.” He swallowed hard. “It’s because of his brother.”
His brother?
“Archie?” Maggie asked with wide eyes.
“No, his other brother. He’s older. He’s their guardian,” Johnny continued in a hushed voice. “He’s a real mean son of a bitch, makes fun of him for liking art, ruins whatever he brings home for the fun of it. So just… Please don’t give up on Hunt, so many other people have. He doesn’t talk much anymore, but he was really excited about you being the new teacher, so just… I guess I’m asking you not to be too hard on him.”
Wow. The kid had some balls for sticking up for his friend to a teacher the way he was.
Maggie’s expression softened as she absorbed the information. “Okay. Thank you for telling me, Johnny. Have a good rest of your day.”
He nodded and gave me a little salute before leaving.
As soon as he was gone, Maggie’s green eyes found mine. “His brother?”
I shook my head in disgust. Things were starting to make a little more sense when it came to the two brothers Maggie had in her classes.
“Well,” she blew out a breath, “at least he does care about art.”
“And dress girl,” I offered.
“What?” She turned to me with a curious look. “Dress girl?”
“The one who wears dresses every day.”
“Abby?” She laughed. “You call her dress girl?”
“They all have names, just not as cool as Jinx,” I said, giving her a wink.
An amused grin slid on her face as she started cleaning up the room. “What do you call them?”
I shrugged. “Cheerleader, dress girl, goth girl, band girl, and…” I nodded towards the door where Hunter took off.
“Hunter? He gets his real name?” She arched an eyebrow. “Sexist much?”
“No. Coleson dubbed him actually.”
“Dubbed him what?”
“Mini-Ben.”
Maggie’s face softened and I had to turn away. I didn’t want her pity.